Archive for the ‘Podcasting’ Category

As of yesterday, iTunes sent out a new version 11. Some are heralding it as the iTunes you always wanted.

Let’s face it, Apple products are pretty nice. But their software has not been that great. For years now, iTunes has been clunky and weird. If you’re honest about it, you only like it because you are used to it.

Interestingly, this week’s TWiT podcast stated that Google has been great at Internet services, but not so great at design of physical products. Yet, Apple builds great products, but is not so good at software and Internet services. (more…)

NOTE: Sorry this post auto-plays the video below. I have no choice. MyContent offers no other way.

The New Media Expo was in Las Vegas last weekend. From what I can tell online, it was a huge success.

In particular, I especially enjoyed this keynote address by Leo Laporte of Tech TV. In it, he shows where the future of media is heading.

You see, writing in a blog is easy. In fact, creating video and recording audio is easy too. So if someone has something interesting to say and does a great job presenting it, how can he (or she) get that content (media) out to more people via the Internet? (more…)

Ideally, the participant will use Skype and a USB headset. In fact, I recently read that Leo LaPorte (long time popular podcaster) asks his other participants (on TWIT) to use Skype and a Plantronics headset ($40) and will even mail them one if they don’t have one.

If your participant just wants to use the phone, that will work too. Just use SkypeOut. It is very inexpensive. This sounds good, but not as good.

Note: Brandon Uttley recently pointed me at a great video to watch if you really want to get into the absolute best setup for Skype. It involves setting router settings for optimum results.

You should have your participants review a waiver/release. Here’s a good example.

Other configurations

As you get more advanced with podcasting, it is advantageous to have a slightly more complex setup.

The SM-58 microphone is highly recommended by many for quality and durability. Several other styles and varieties of microphones are available. But don’t bother spending the money until you are sure you want to do this long-term.

Recorders, such as the Marantz PMD-600 will allow you to record without being worried about having your computer crash.

WordPress has been a favorite program of mine for a while now. We have several WordPress blogs and they work great. So attending this session at the New Media Expo was a definite for me.

How to go from using WordPress for just a blog to using it for a podcast was something I plan to do very soon. Charles Stricklin from The WordPress Podcast gave this session on the topic. He seems like a very helpful person and I enjoyed talking with him in person afterward.

Here are some important points from the session…

Why WordPress?

WordPress is the most used blogging platform.

It is free (open source)

It is also very well supported by the community

It has millions of users, designers, and coders.

To hinder hackers and thieves from hurting your site, rename your table prefix or restrict access to wp-content and wp-includes directories. (I doubt I’ll do that.) He also recommended using a limited account when posting. In other words, don’t use the admin account regularly. (This is easier. I should do it.)

WordPress feeds are available for not only the entire blog, but for a particular tag or category. (I did not know that!)

Use Feedburner. (I did know that.)

To assist with the problematic “Digg effect” of running out of bandwidth due to popularity, use “WP Super Cache” plugin.